Friday, January 24, 2020

The Fifth Element, Sinfield, The Perfect Storm and A River Runs Through It :: Movies Writing Essays

The Fifth Element, Sinfield, The Perfect Storm and A River Runs Through It Authors examine many different sources to become better writers. By drawing on the writings of another author one can enhance their current writing style and also learn new ways to write. The plot, conflict throughout the story and the relationships between the characters are some examples of the parts of a story that an author can look at. Plot is the essence of a story. It is basically an outline of the flow of a story from one event to another. By examining the plot of a work, one can gain insight into another person's style of storytelling and from that style one can then learn ways to enhance his own writing. The movie, The Fifth Element, contains a plot that unravels very creatively. The screenwriter of the movie chose to tell his story from a future time when humans and aliens coexist. His goal is to explain to the moviegoer the idea that four elements, portrayed as rocks, make up life and one essential element holds these four together to create life and combat evil. He begins his explanation through a flashback sequence that displays the initial conflict, an ultimate evil, which will again arise later in the movie. After the flashback, the movie follows a chronological chain of events. The audience is introduced to the main characters, a man and a woman, and then to the rest of the good guys and the villains. T hroughout the course of the movie the characters move through many emotions from fear to hate to sheer joy. In the end, the good guys gather the four elements and are able to combine them together with the essential element, love, to destroy the evil. The creator’s use of common elements such as flashbacks, conflict and the basic concepts of good and evil can be drawn upon to better ones own plot construction. The Fifth Element uses the concept of a tangible evil as the major source of conflict. Sebastian Junger's book The Perfect Storm uses the natural phenomena of a storm as its ultimate conflict. The book takes place on a commercial fishing boat, the Andrea Gail, which gets stuck at sea during a terrible storm. The crew of the boat has to fight the storm in order to save their own lives. This causes a man verses nature conflict in which the man has little chance of winning.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Custom Fabricators Case Solution

I. Problem: How can Custom Fabricators, Inc. (CFI) prevent a possible business takeover of the Mexican suppliers and at the same time, ensure long-term profitability? II. Assumptions: 1. The case is set on the current year. 2. The Mexican suppliers will win the bid and production will move to Mexico. 3. In case CFI would switch to contract manufacturing, the contracted volume of units that they will produce is within the range of their production under lean manufacturing. 4. Orleans would shoulder the cost of shipping products from Mexico to CFI only. III. Alternatives: Based on the opportunities of CFI, the group has identified three alternatives for the company to implement: a. Work closely with Mexican suppliers This involves establishment of effective communication lines (e. g. through Internet, video conferencing), assigning a representative to monitor quality of products to be shipped, sending quality control machines to Mexico or asking Orleans to require the Mexican suppliers to conduct quality check before shipment. b. Differentiate product and/or expand market This involves developing more advanced products (e. . touch-screen elevator control panels) or expanding its target market (e. g. instead of just supplying control panels for elevators it can also create ones for ATMs, safety vaults etc. ) c. Switch to contract manufacturing This means instead of producing outputs only when Orleans needs it, CFI would now have a fixed production per month that they would need to deliver. IV. Analysis: First, let us identify the major is sues in the case. Currently, CFI has several strengths that help them establish a competitive advantage. First is the company’s proximity to the construction site and to the Bedford plant which serves as its supplier as it was able to keep the transportation costs minimal. Another one is its customer intimacy. Because CFI knows exactly what Orleans needs and when to provide it, it is able to cater to their customer’s demands in time with good quality products. Having been in the business for over 15 years, CFI was also able to set up efficient operations which helped them on becoming a lean manufacturer. It also has loyal and skilled employees that are satisfied in their job. Lastly, its business has also been profitable with a high profit margin of almost 30%. However, the company also has several weaknesses that we must take into consideration. First, CFI is a private company which means it has limited financing options and relies heavily on its revenues as generated by its operations. Also, because it wants to maintain its good relationship with its employees it could not reduce labor cost. Because of Orleans’ increasing efforts to reduce costs, the company faces the threat of having the production of raw materials moved to Mexico because of the cheaper labor costs there. If that would happen (and this paper assumes that it will), CFI might have problems with shipping back items that are not of par quality in addition to possible problems in communication. Moreover, there is also the threat of competition as Orleans might look for other suppliers in Mexico to continue to lower costs and since CFI couldn’t lower its costs anymore, Orleans might just source totally from Mexico. Now, let us analyze each of the alternatives. The first one is to work closely with its Mexican suppliers. Through this, CFI will be able to ensure the quality and secure shipment of units to their company. It would also lessen chances of error in production and delivery and decrease waiting costs for the unit replacements. However, there is the uncertainty of soliciting cooperation from the Mexican suppliers and sending a representative or a quality control machine in Mexico is costly. Moreover, the Mexican suppliers might gain knowledge of CFI’s efficient production process which increases the risk of business takeover. If CFI will differentiate its product, it would be able to lessen its dependence on Orleans as it would be able to get more customers and therefore generate more income. Also, there is a lesser risk of business takeover as their product will increase competitive advantage as it was able to provide more value for a small additional cost. This can also be related to the alternative of market expansion as its differentiated product could open new market opportunities for them. However, it should also be considered that this alternative requires more investment in R&D and other equipment. Also there are risks of market failure and having problems in meeting demand due to its limited capacity. Lastly, we have the alternative of switching from lean manufacturing to contract manufacturing. This would help CFI develop economies of scale and receive fixed income or stable inflow of revenues. Because of this, it will be able to better allocate its resources and might even reduce labor costs as it would generally need less workers. CFI can also use its excess capacity to cater to other customers or work on other products. However, this can also be a factor against them because Orleans might be reluctant to have it as a contract manufacturer thus increasing the risk of CFI being replaced by a Mexican supplier. In addition to that, this alternative also comes with termination costs and decrease in competitive advantage. V. Plan of Action: After analyzing the position and the possible alternatives of CFI, we created an action plan that takes into consideration the long-run costs and benefits of each option and its technical, operational and economic feasibility given the current capacity, resources, and opportunities of the company. Based on the analysis, CFI could undertake several alternatives but each should be implemented at the right time. Here is the proposed action and contingency plans for the company: Short-term (1-2 years) Assuming that the production of raw materials will move to Mexico, the best immediate action that CFI could undertake is to work closely with the Mexican suppliers. The company might not be able to lower its costs anymore but they could still ensure that the products that they create are still of good quality and are able to meet the demand. Moreover, we see that it is unlikely for Orleans to eliminate CFI in the supply chain as it would be more costly for them to look for new Mexican suppliers considering that they already established a good business relationship and developed the efficiency caused by over 15 years of working together. Long-term (More than 2 years) To address the issue of ensuring long-run profitability knowing that CFI couldn’t compete with Mexican suppliers in terms of cost, it can try to differentiate its products to enhance its competitive advantage. Since the company has a high profit margin and loyal workers that produce when there is only a demand for it, it could use these as additional investment in R&D and be used to cater to other consumer demands. Because of this, it would be impractical for Orleans to eliminate CFI in the supply chain as they would get more value from it that they couldn’t just get anywhere easily. Moreover, CFI could also see get an opportunity to expand its market for its unique selling proposition therefore increasing its profitability.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Eugene Delacroix’s the Massacre at Chios Greek Families...

Many emotions stem from war and violence. Some people cope by talking to a friend, others write things down in a journal. Very few choose to discard the written or vocal word for brush and canvas, chalk and paper, or any number of artistic mediums at their disposal. Eugene Delacroix and Otto Dix were two such men. Even though their careers blossomed almost a century apart, they shared common ground. Both men chose to speak through their work depicting history with an unfiltered approach. How does a piece of art affect a viewer? Does that piece convey a message effectively to its viewers? Let us investigate the two artists that roused plenty of conflict and sentiment with their depiction of two very sensitive topics in their era.†¦show more content†¦In 1920 Otto Dix created a Drypoint print entitled Kriegeskrà ¼ppel (War Cripples). War Cripples was one of Otto Dix’s earliest attempts at print work. His basis for this print was a painting that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis damned as degenerate and demolished. The print illustrates a group of military veterans struggling down a city street. Dix brings attention to their deformed human shells by making them appear partly mechanized. The man pushing the wheel chair appears to be holding up a middle finger in the original painting as they walk by a shoe store that they do not have much use for anymore. Also, the man in the middle seems to be adding an abstract flair to the piece. He appears to be either shaking or having an out of body experience where his spirit seems to be floating above him. Delacroix’s The Massacre at Chios transmits feelings of loss, despair, and tragedy to its viewers. The Massacre at Chios requires no history lesson to understand that some great suffering had happened. Dix’s War cripples emanates some of the same feelings, viewers can see the artist’s political views and feelings toward the war. I feel that The Massacre of Chios translates its message more effectively to viewers across time. A viewer from our day and age can look upon the massive painting and immediately feel the transference of anguish and pain. However, in order to understand the message that Dix may be trying to convey, the viewer would have to understand